In March 2017, the Supreme Court decided "Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association" and upheld the constitutionality of agency fees for nonunion teachers. We examine how "Friedrichs" reflects a host of issues grouped around a patchwork of ideological commitments regarding teachers unions and public-sector unions more…

This year, labor unions got a reprieve: The Supreme Court deadlocked in a much-anticipated case that could have turned almost every state into Wisconsin, where partisan interests have crippled union power. The case, "Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association," addressed a previous case, "Abood v. Detroit Board of…

In its stunning and far-reaching decision in the "Pacific Lutheran University" case (12/16/14), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opened the door to union organizing among faculty at thousands of private-sector institutions, both secular and religious. The question before the NLRB was whether a local of the Service Employees…

The recent decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that Northwestern University football players on scholarship are "employees" entitled to unionize under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) should serve as a wake-up call for higher education administrators. Part of a trend in which both the NLRB…

This article examines the legal and political significance of teacher unionization in rural and suburban school districts between 1960 and 1975. While most historians focus on the growth of unions in urban areas, strikes in outlying districts played a determinative role in the development of public sector labor law, particularly in the arbitration…

In the vast majority of school districts, the collective-bargaining process has evolved little during the past few decades. Teachers unions have successfully represented teachers' economic and job security interests by linking them to collective bargaining and procedural due process rights, but district administrators continue to make the…

Free speech concerns associated with collective bargaining become important when unions impose fair-share fees that charge nonmembers for costs associated with the benefits they receive through labor negotiations. When unions collect fair-share fees, those payments often support causes with which nonmembers and dissenting members disagree.…

With the maturation of the internet more and more colleges and universities are offering online courses. As these courses enter the mainstream, public policy issues are beginning to emerge. Many of these involve the tension between the "work for hire" doctrine and academic freedom that occurs when educational institutions offer these…

In the US, graduate assistants are an integral part of a university's educational and operational climate. Graduate assistants provide teaching, research or administrative services to the educational enterprise in exchange for professional experience and a financial stipend. Recent strikes of graduate teaching assistants at New York University…